FAIRY COVE

Just over the outer wall of Paignton Harbour is a fabulous little beach called Fairy Cove. It's a little bit off the regular tourist route so isn't normally that busy even in the height of summer, but does give you the opportunity to bring friends/family along for a day beside the sea while you go for a dip. There is parking, shops and toilets and divers air near by which is all good news.

This spot is a great one for a novice's first one or two open water dives, or to practice surface rescue techniques as it is pretty sheltered from all but the strongest northerly winds or (as ever in Torbay) from any east wind. There are two hazards to be watchful for using this site though; firstly you are very close to the entrance of the harbour and if you should venture too far out you will be in the boating lane! The second is a noticeable current that runs south-east on a dropping tide and north-west on a flooding tide, but you will only feel it when you get right out by the yellow and black cardinal marker.

The Cove

For trainees just doing a shallow shore dive in the cove, formed by the beach and the harbour wall, it is a very relaxed experience and you will see lots of Velvet Swimmer Crabs, Corkwing Wrasse, Blennies, Snakelocks Anemones and plenty of smaller marine life in amongst the rocks and weed. There is quite a lot of bootlace weed here which, on a clear sunny day, is very photogenic with the play of light and shadows through the long stringy fronds. This type of weed is a favoured hiding place for both greater and worm pipefish. This is also a perfect spot for learning how to snorkel: you can see most things of interest from the surface and on a summer's day the clear waters will (in theory!) entice you to start to extend your duck-dive and breath-hold abilities so you can get down in amongst the marine life down there. (Remember; even snorkellers need to dive with a competent buddy)

On a couple of occasions I've seen a seal on the surface not too far from the beach and also one of the UK's largest jellyfish - Rhizostoma Octopus - but don't worry these dustbin sized giants are slow moving and not able to sting.

If you're staying on the surface navigation is easy: do not venture out further than the end of the harbour wall to the north, or out past the red sandstone headland (Roundham Head) to the east. If there is a bit of surface chop as the tide drops you'll see the tops of the rocks causing a disturbance in the water so just be aware that you may get bashed against the rocks if you're not too careful.

The Gulley

This is a more challenging dive/snorkel than simply splashing about in the cove, but one with correspondingly more reward for your efforts. Basically you can swim out to the cardinal marker (the big black and yellow metal thing in the water to the north-east of the beach!) and dive/snorkel back into the beach following a break in the rocks that gives overhangs and interesting hidey-holes for lots of different marine life.

The cardinal marker is actually an East Cardinal Marker which instructs boat traffic to stay to the east of it to avoid a danger to shipping. In this case it's the rocks you will swim over to get to it, bearing in mind the potential for a surface current out there and the 200m distance please make sure you're fit enough to give it a go! As mentioned before this is a busy boating area and not everyone knows what the cardinal marker is for and some boats will come inside of it so please use a SMB on this dive/snorkel.

Once you've made it out to the marker you can hold onto it for a while to get your breath back. It might be interesting to start your dive here as there are often a few juvenile Bib and Pouting sheltering in the super-structure of the marker. Additionally the concrete base is actually hollow with a large 4 foot diameter tunnel in which there lives a big Oyster, some Devonshire Cup Corals and the odd Nudibranch on the weed overhanging the hole.

From here, either on the surface or over the kelp, you should head towards Roundham Head (south by south-west) for about 30m or so until the kelp comes to an abrupt end and you're suddenly on very fine sand. Be careful with your fins as this sand is almost silt and is easily stirred up. Having found the sand... stop! Follow the rock edge in a west/south-west direction and the rock will rise up to form a 4m high wall which is where this dive becomes interesting.

The wall will lead you back in towards the beach and eventually will merge into the rocks and weed of the cove at which point you can either surface-swim back into the shore, or continue on your bearing and keep below the surface emerging on the sand and pebble beach a few minutes later.

I can easily fill a 60min dive here by really taking my time along the wall, and watching out for Nudibranchs, Tompot Blennies, Edible and Velvet Swimmer crabs, Sea Cucumbers, Bib, Common Starfish, Brittle Stars, and some amazing anemone life where the wall becomes an overhang. There are a couple of places where the overhangs are very pronounced so do remember to look up as this is where you will see the most anemones and dead-men's fingers too. Many of this life is at the perfect height for you to gently kneel on the sand and take your time to do some photography, one of my favourite subjects here is the actual 'foot' of the kelp (it's 'holdfast') which look like animals in their own right.

Savage Hole

There is some mention in a certain popular diving book that the remains of three wrecks lie close to this spot at a place called Savage Hole. Well, there may be three wrecks here but there is very, very little of them remaining and while the summer kelp is out it is all but impossible to find. Trust me, it's not worth it! In your snorkelling gear, if you can be bothered to swim east from the beach around the headland, then south until you get to a small beach (this is Savage Hole), then you're not far from the only distinct piece of metal still remaining. Have a look in the gallery of photos but it I think it looks quite like a car door and I couldn't figure out what part of a wreck it might be.

If anyone out there knows different I'm happy to be corrected on this one, but I did spend over an hour mooching around in the kelp and only came across a few heavily concreted lumps of indistinguishable metal for my efforts so I won't be heading back there again in a hurry.

That said; it's quite a nice snorkel over the shallow rocks anyway with plenty of large wrasse to keep you company, and if you've read my other guides then you'll know that kelp harbours lots of live such as Grey and Painted Topshells, Nudibranchs, Blue-Rayed Limpets and the odd dogfish or two too.

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